Uefa Champions League
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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - 2020/21 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Stade de Marseille - Marseille Wednesday 25 November 2020 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Olympique de Marseille Group C - Matchday 4 FC Porto Last updated 24/11/2020 03:17CET UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OFFICIAL SPONSORS Match background 2 Legend 5 1 Olympique de Marseille - FC Porto Wednesday 25 November 2020 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Stade de Marseille, Marseille Match background Marseille are hoping to avoid making an unwanted piece of UEFA Champions League history as they welcome coach André Villas-Boas's former club Porto to the Stade Vélodrome. • The French side have lost their first three games in Group C to stretch their run of successive UEFA Champions League defeats to 12, matching the competition record. • OM's latest defeat was a 3-0 reverse at Porto on Matchday 3, first-half goals from Moussa Marega and Sérgio Oliveira, the latter a penalty, added to after the break by Luis Díaz to give Porto six points in the section – three behind group leaders Manchester City but three ahead of Olympiacos. Previous meetings • Porto have now won four of their five contests against Marseille, the exception a 1-1 draw at the Stade Vélodrome in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage thanks to Lucho González's late penalty equaliser. The Portuguese side won 2-1 at the Estádio do Dragão. • José Mourinho's side took six points off OM in the group stage of their victorious UEFA Champions League campaign in 2003/04 with a 3-2 success in France and a 1-0 home win, Dmitri Alenichev scoring the decisive goal in both matches. Form guide Marseille • Marseille are the only side still to score in this season's group stage, going down 1-0 at Olympiacos on Matchday 1 before 3-0 losses at home to Manchester City and at Porto. • The French side are making their tenth appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage, but their first since 2013/14. Three of those previous nine campaigns have extended into the knockout rounds, including the inaugural edition in 1992/93 when OM became the first, and so far only, French side to win the European Cup. • Marseille most recently made the knockout stages in 2011/12, when they reached the quarter-finals. • Seven years ago, OM finished bottom of their group behind Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli, losing all six games. • This season's results have extended Marseille's losing run in the UEFA Champions League to 12 matches, level with Anderlecht's record. Their last success in the competition was a 1-0 home victory against Internazionale in the 2011/12 round of 16 first leg. • Second in Ligue 1 in 2019/20, Marseille are taking part in UEFA competition for the first time since 2018/19. Then they finished bottom of a UEFA Europa League section also including Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio and Apollon Limassol with one point having lost five of their six matches. • Marseille are without a win in 11 European matches, losing ten, since a 2-0 victory at home to Salzburg in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg. They went on to lose the second leg 2-1 but still progressed to the final, where they were beaten 3-0 by Atlético de Madrid in Lyon. • Marseille have lost their last four home European matches having won the previous four and eight of the previous nine (D1). • OM have won their last three games at home to Portuguese clubs, most recently beating Braga 3-0 in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League round of 32 (3-1 aggregate). All four of their wins against Portuguese sides overall have come in their seven fixtures at the Vélodrome (D1 L2). • Marseille have finished outside the top two in their UEFA Champions League group in five of their last seven participations. Porto • Beaten 3-1 at City in their first Group C game, successive home wins against Olympiacos (2-0) and Marseille have lifted Porto into second place in the standings. • This is Porto's 24th UEFA Champions League group campaign, fewer only than Real Madrid and Barcelona (both 25). • The Portuguese side have qualified for the last 16 on each of their last three appearances in the group stage. • Porto's 2019/20 UEFA Champions League campaign lasted a single tie, however, Krasnodar beating them on away goals in the third qualifying round (1-0 a, 2-3 h). They went on to finish first in a UEFA Europa League section including Rangers, Young Boys and Feyenoord, but were beaten by Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 32 (1-2 a, 1-3 2 Olympique de Marseille - FC Porto Wednesday 25 November 2020 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Stade de Marseille, Marseille h). • Porto have lost four of their last seven matches in the UEFA Champions League proper (W3) but have been beaten only once in 12 games in the competition's group stage (W9 D2), winning four in a row before defeat on Matchday 1 this season. • Sérgio Conceição's side won the club's eighth domestic double in 2019/20, claiming Porto's 29th league title and a 17th Portuguese Cup. • The Dragons have now won their last five games against French clubs, home and away, including their last two in France; most recently they were 3-0 victors at Monaco in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League group stage. • Porto have lost just one of their last eight games against French opposition, home and away (W6 D1). • The Dragons have lost only five of their 26 matches against French sides, winning 15 – most notably a 3-0 win against Monaco for Mourinho's side in the 2004 UEFA Champions League final in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Links and trivia • Villas-Boas made a memorable impression during his only season in charge of Porto in 2010/11, steering the Dragons to the Portuguese Liga title unbeaten and adding the domestic cup and the UEFA Europa League before taking over at Chelsea. He had been appointed by Porto in June 2010 after his first season in management, when he led Académica de Coimbra to 11th place in the final standings having taken charge in October 2009 with the club bottom of the table. • Sérgio Conceição was Nantes coach between December 2016 and June 2017, taking the club from 19th place in Ligue 1 to seventh before departing for Porto. He oversaw a 3-2 home win against Marseille in February 2017, with Valentin Rongier – now of OM – playing 86 minutes. • Conceição scored in Lazio's 2-0 win at Marseille in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League second group stage; he also played 90 minutes in the Italian side's 5-1 home win the following March. • Have played together: Valentin Rongier & Sérgio Oliveira (Nantes 2016/17) Florian Thauvin & Chancel Mbemba (Newcastle 2015/16) Boubacar Kamara, Mickaël Cuisance & Malang Sarr (France Under-17s, U19) • Have played in France: Malang Sarr (Nice 2016–20) Sérgio Oliveira (Nantes 2016/17) Moussa Marega (Évry 2011/12, Le Poiré-sur-Vie 2012/13, Amiens 2013/14) • When Sarr was coming through Nice's youth set-up, Jordan Amavi (2013–15) and Valère Germain (2015/16) were in the senior side. • International team-mates: Hiroki Sakai, Yuto Nagatomo & Shoya Nakajima (Japan) Nemanja Radonjić & Marko Grujić (Serbia) Darío Benedetto & Agustín Marchesín (Argentina) • Benedetto scored both goals past Marchesín in Club América's 2-0 away win at Santos Laguna in the Mexican league on 14 August 2015. • Pepe was named man of the match in Portugal's 1-0 extra-time win against France in the final of UEFA EURO 2016. Dimitri Payet started the match for France, with Steve Mandanda an unused substitute. Latest news Marseille • Dimitri Payet made his 50th appearance in UEFA club competition on Matchday 3. • Marseille have won their last three Ligue 1 matches, most recently a 1-0 victory at Strasbourg on 6 November. • OM are now unbeaten in six league matches (W3 D3). • The weekend game against Nice was postponed. • Marseille started the season with two victories, including a 1-0 success away to champions Paris Saint-Germain on 13 September, their first win against Paris since November 2011. • OM had to wait until their fourth game at the Stade Vélodrome this season for their first home victory (D2 L1), a 3-1 defeat of Bordeaux 3-1 on 17 October. • Marseille have won only one of their last seven home matches in all competitions (D3 L3). 3 Olympique de Marseille - FC Porto Wednesday 25 November 2020 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Stade de Marseille, Marseille • Nemanja Radonjić was part of the Serbia team beaten on penalties by Scotland in the UEFA EURO 2020 play-off final in Belgrade on 12 November. He then scored in successive UEFA Nations League matches against Hungary (1- 1 a) and Russia (5-0 h). • A Saîf-Eddine Khaoui goal earned Tunisia a 1-1 draw away to Tanzania on 17 November, confirming their place at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals for the 15th tournament running, a new African record. • Boubacar Kamara played 82 minutes as France beat Switzerland 3-1 in Caen on 16 November to qualify for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Porto • Pepe made his 100th appearance in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final on Matchday 2. He was the 40th player to reach that mark. • Porto have won 14 of their last 19 games in all competitions (D1 L4).